Balliol e-news, Issue 6: October 2011

As well as our new Master, the College warmly welcomes 16 new members to our academic and teaching staff for the year 2011/12.

The full list of new arrivals with background details can be found on the Balliol website

An Evolving Annual Fund

Old Members around the world will soon receive the 2011 Annual Fund brochure which not only outlines a compelling case for support but it also explains how the fund has evolved to allow you to direct your gift to particular areas of College life. There are four key areas which would benefit from your help: undesignated gifts are used where there is greatest need but you can also contribute to financial support for students, tutorial teaching, and buildings and facilities. Thanks to your collective support, the Annual Fund has grown considerably in the last decade. We received 1,754 gifts to the Annual Fund last year, and our goal is to build on this success to ensure that each of our talented students is provided with what they need to fulfil their potential.

Oxford University is the best in the world for medicine, according to The Times Higher Education World Rankings, overtaking Harvard in the league table for clinical, pre-clinical and health subjects. In addition to this, all four of Balliol's medic finalists achieved Firsts last year, meaning it has been a great year for Medicine at Balliol and Oxford.Read more

New Faces at the Lodge

We have also seen changes in the Lodge over the last few months with two new faces for our Old Members to become familiar with: Stan Forbes, our new weekend porter, and Mark Howe join Karen, Phil and Ian in what is surely the most demanding job in College!

Calling all Old Member in California, DC, New York and the Middle East

Balliol Old Members can be found in every corner of the globe, and some of them are using the Alumni Network to try and discover any fellow Balliolites who may be in their particular corner. Groups have been set up for the locations above with the aim of organising social gatherings, so if you're in the vicinity, join up! And if you're not, create your own group for your own area and establish your own Balliol network.

Announcements

Professor Timothy Endicott, Fellow in Law at Balliol, and Dean of the University's Faculty of Law since 2007, has been elected Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple. Jon Moynihan OBE (1967) has been appointed Fellow of the Honorary Society of Gray's Inn. Professor Robert Putnam (1963), the Malkin Professor of Public Policy, is to receive an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Michigan.

£30 Million to Fund New Drug Discovery

A scientific consortium engaged in research relevant to the discovery of new drugs has been given a big boost, with almost £31 million in new funding over four years. Two new drug companies have also joined the public-private partnership, showing the recognised importance of this work to the drug development process. The Structural Genomics Consortium is based at the University of Oxford and the University of Toronto, Canada. It was formed in 2004 and carries out research on human proteins relevant to disease, supported by funding from the public and private sector. It makes all of its findings available to the global research community without restriction.

The University is celebrating 10 years of Clarendon Scholarships this month. Over the last decade, over 1,000 international graduates have been awarded scholarships based on academic excellence. Around £7.5million in funding is awarded each year, with, on average, £30,000 going to each student. Read more

Workings of Molecular Motor Revealed

A team of chemists, led by researchers from the University of Oxford, will this week publish a report that uncovers some of the intricate workings of ATP synthase - the energy-generating protein found in every cell in the human body. They hope their findings will advance research into treatments for a wide range of diseases.

Considering the news that the University has been ranked first in the world for Medical subjects, now would seem the perfect time for Balliol Medics past and present to re-connect with each other on the Alumni Network.